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It’s official: WRTA gets funds for offices, buses
TweetBy Denise Dick
Twelve buses and five minivans will be bought with the stimulus money.
YOUNGSTOWN — The federal stimulus money is official, and now the Western Reserve Transit Authority awaits a permit from the city to erect temporary offices during its administrative offices expansion.
It’s been waiting for more than two weeks, said Don Meszaros, WRTA’s director of maintenance.
The temporary offices, which resemble trailers, are parked at the side of WRTA’s Mahoning Avenue building. Once the agency receives the required permit to occupy the temporary quarters, they’ll be placed in front of the administrative office building, Meszaros said.
It will take about three weeks to complete all of the wiring and other work to make the temporary offices usable for personnel.
“I understand that they’re short-staffed down there,” Meszaros said.
He said WRTA representatives have been in daily contact with the city about the necessary permit.
City officials couldn’t be reached.
James Ferraro, WRTA executive director, said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, reports that the $3.5 million in federal stimulus funds to WRTA is official. Of that, $2.2 million is for renovation and expansion of its administration offices.
The remainder will be spent on 12 new buses, five new minivans, surveillance cameras and bus shelters.
“This is another example of how Congress and the Obama Administration are working together to invest in our community,” Ryan said in a news release. “This funding will help put people back to work while investing in our region’s critical infrastructure.”
Ferraro said that though the 12 buses had been ordered and were ready to be picked up, the agency had to await official announcement about the federal money to pay for them. The five minivans are expected to be available in about a week.
Meszaros conducted a pre-bid conference with contractors interested in bidding on the expansion/renovation project this week.
“The turnout was good, but not what I had anticipated,” he said.
Nine firms attended the meeting, completing an on-site inspection of offices. As of Wednesday, 26 bid proposal packages had been distributed.
The deadline to submit bids for the project has been extended to July 14 and bids will be opened that same day. The previous deadline was July 7.
denise_dick@vindy.com
Comments
They get a 3.5 million dollar windfall, and what's the first thing they think of? "We need new office space - something that befits the style we'd like to be accustomed to!" How about taking care of the taxpayers, for a change, and buying a new fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles, instead of blowing 2/3 of the money on Ferraro and company's personal comfort?
Can I get on a bus in New Middletown and ride it to Lake Milton yet?
For the most part, these bussess stay within city limits. Mahoning County consists of more than just Youngstown!
Please, someone give me reasons why this should be acceptable. I don't get it. There are hardly any jobs, and even when there were, those busses were still half full at best.
With this much coming in to them, we should repeal the sales tax. They obviously don't need that money now if they have the funds to renovate to the tune of 2.2 million. Lets use that sales tax for something that benefits the whole county, not just Youngstown.
Do they even have the choice of spending this $3.5 million any other way? They weren't just handed a check to do what they want. As with all stimulous projects, applications were made for every individual request. The gov't approved the administration building renovation, and new busses as outlined in the article. They did not receive approval for a fleet of fuel-efficient buses.
I wish they could spend some of this to fix up the bus station, or a new fleet of hybrid buses too. But the administration building does need expanded. Even more so, now that they are expanding into a county wide service. (I also hear that the original roof is starting to leak and will be replaced with some of that $2.2M.)
Lastly, take a look at WRTA's website. (http://www.wrtaonline.com/) County wide service will start to appear in September.
If you believe that, I have this wonderful bridge for sale in Brooklyn. They can claim county-wide service until their last breath, the WRTA is almost exclusively used in the YO, not the county. The county should not have to continue to pay when they just got a 3.5 million dollar influx of cash.
city resident, they wrote their application with no pressure to conform to anything - they asked for money to do what they wanted with. Why didn't they write their proposal so that they would be given funds to buy a new, fuel-efficient fleet? $2.2 million is a lot of roof fixing and touchup paint.
I don't care what Ferraro claims - nobody else will get the same kind of service the city does from the WRTA, except for the parts of Boardman that the buses have to go through to get to WalMart and the mall. Yet they pay the same taxes.
I am glad to hear WRTA is getting some help, however I hope they use the money wisely. Using public transportation has been an absolute necessity for my family in the past couple of years, and believe me those busses are not always "half full". There are many people in our community who need public transportation, and they deserve to be considered even they are not in the "majority". Some of us cannot afford two vehicles, some can't afford even one vehicle, but we still have jobs to go to and lives to live. Thank you, WRTA for making life a little easier on the less fortunate.
correction- even IF they are not in the "majority"...
NoBS, have you seen their application(s)? I haven't, but I've seen their requests here: http://recovery.ohio.gov/accountabili...
(the "current submissions list" is a rather large Excel document) You can use the "find" tool to search for "WRTA".
Why would they have to go through such a lengthy application process, (I know the application process is complex because people in my office have helped fill them out) if they are just going to be given a check to do whatever they want anyway?
At least there is some good news.